Reporters' Log

Corruption top issue for public

By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-27 07:38

As in recent years, corruption is the No 1 issue among the Chinese public as the annual national legislative sessions prepare to kick off next week.

However, the huge attention generated this year is due not to the worsening corruption situation, but to the rising tide of online supervision launched by a politically aware public, experts said.

"Since the public still often discovers corruption around them, anti-corruption remains one of the most popular issues at the legislative sessions. And this year is no exception," Shen Kui, a political law professor at Peking University, told China Daily.

This was underlined by a China News Agency survey of nearly 50,000 readers in which over 75 percent named corruption as the most important issue.

That was immediately followed by income gaps, with votes from 69 percent of the readers.

In a similar survey on Sina.com, corruption also topped the list of concerns.

The rise of public awareness has spurred local officials to respond to the concerns.

Officials in Altay prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region became the first group of Chinese officials to declare their income to the public.

As part of the anti-corruption campaign, all 1,056 officials said they did not accept any valuable gifts from organizations or individuals related to their work, according to the declarations publicized online.

About 150,000 officials nationwide were punished by both disciplinary and legal institutions last year, government numbers show.

More than 20,000 officials handed over about 160 million yuan ($23.4 million) worth of bribes.

Last year's long list includes Liu Zhihua, the ex-Beijing vice mayor who was sentenced to death, Huang Songyou, the highest court official to be removed from his position, ex-State-run bank official Wang Yi and ex-assistant public security minister Zheng Shaodong.

Central Economic Work Conference

• Interest Rate Cut
• 30 Years of Reforms
• Coping with Financial Crisis
• Housing in China
• 2008 Tsinghua Management Global Forum
• more

Hot Words

• 政府注資 pump priming
• 軟環境 soft environment
• 糧食最低收購價 crops' minimum purchase prices

• 保八 Eight Percent Protection
• 以人為本 Put People First
• 農民企業家 Farmer-turned-entrepreneur
• 窗口指導 window guidance
• 下崗再就業 Re-employment after being laid off
• more

From Foreign Press

• German media give full coverage to Premier's report
• Overseas press praise China's 8% economic growth
• German media: Economy tops agenda at NPC session
• From the foreign press
• World media keeps close watch on 'two sessions'
• more

Letters

• Corruption top issue for public
• China adopts Food Safety Law
• China's economic growth in 2009
• more